Bridging the gap between education and employment, on a local and European level, was the central theme tackled during the fourth edition of the Social Innovation Challenge, an event hosted by Junior Achievement Young Enterprise Malta Foundation (JAYE Malta) in collaboration with Microsoft Malta.
The one-day event, at the Microsoft Innovation Centre, attracted 8 teams from a number of private, state, and church schools. The 56 Participants where Fifth form students, aged 15-16 years old.
By challenging students to create a product or service in a few hours that tackles this challenge, the students learned, amongst other skills, how to plan, create a business model, increase awareness, and team work.
Throughout the day, Microsoft employees volunteered to mentor the teams; they guided the students through the process of day, and taught them how to better utilize Microsoft's resources and technology with which to build and present their project to the rest of the participants. The teams were also assisted by their respective teachers as well as by the JAYE Malta team. The winners of the day's challenge were each given a Windows phone, and a trophy to be kept by the school.
"It's so inspiring for us to see this broad spectrum of students who will all be changing the landscape of Malta. At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more and JAYE shares our mission 100%. Our partnership with JAYE is highly collaborative and has grown and evolved over time. Entrepreneurship is embedded in both organizations' DNA. Young entrepreneurs are fantastic role models and their personal stories are inspiring. We believe that youth is the future for creating greater innovations with more diverse approaches, questions and ideas" commented Panayiotis Ioannou Country Manager of Malta and Cyprus.
"When young people are challenged outside of their classroom environment and are trusted with proposing ways how to address problems they relate to, they display their immense capability to devise interesting solutions, especially when these solutions are aimed at young people like them. Events like this are ideal ways to educate and motivate young people as well as to involve direct participation from their educators. Teachers know their students and know how to encourage them to venture outside the comfort zone of their classroom and we were delighted to have their collaboration into making this event a successful and memorable one for the students," stated Julian Azzopardi CEO of JAYE Malta.
At events such as the JAYE Malta Social Innovation Challenge, students learn the basics in creative-thinking and problem-solving, and are encouraged to break away from the constraints of what may be considered as obvious solutions. In the spirit of entrepreneurship, students put into practice JAYE's principle of "Learning by Doing", to help them develop their interpersonal, as well as problem-solving skills and learn to work under tight deadlines.
The participating teams came from San Andrea School, San Anton School, St Clare's College, San Gorg Preca College, St Dorothy's Senior School, St Ignatius College, St Martin's College and Verdala International School.
Simultaneously at the Microsoft Innovation centre, Elevate - a JAYE Company successfully competed in the JA Europe Social Enterprise 360* competition, placing third overall in the competition.
National winning teams from Romania, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Malta, and Belgium (Vlajo) were invited to compete in the European SE360 online finale. Elevate - a JAYE Company, has placed 3rd in the 2016 European Finale of Social Enterprise 360, a social entrepreneurship education programme organised by JA Europe held on Thursday 9th June. Social Enterprise 360 is a programme funded by the European Commission via Erasmus+ programme which aims to provide students practical entrepreneurial experience and opportunity to develop transversal skills around a social business project.
ELEVATE - a JAYE Company targets the global problem of Food Wastage, hectic lives with limited time to cook, and unhealthy lifestyles. Their entrepreneurial activity has led to the development and distribution of two innovative and useful products, which help people take a step towards addressing these issues. Elevate's mobile application called QuickEats provides quick and simple recipes using ingredients available at home, while kitchen gadgets called Food Minders serve as visual reminders for food expiry dates.
For more information about JAYE Malta email [email protected].